Jupally’s letter against IAS officer Rizvi an attempt to deflect blame?

Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao accused senior IAS officer SAM Rizvi of misconduct, urging the Chief Secretary to reject his VRS application. The allegations relate to delays in liquor hologram tenders, raising questions about the timing and motive behind the Minister’s claims

Hyderabad: Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao’s attempt to accuse senior IAS officer SAM Rizvi of misconduct and share a letter addressed to Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao with media organisations appears to be part of a larger attempt to shield himself from controversy.

In his letter, the Minister urged the Chief Secretary to reject Rizvi’s application for voluntary retirement. Rizvi, Principal Secretary (Commercial Taxes and Excise), had sought Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) citing personal reasons, despite having nearly 10 years of service left. Outlining what he described as ‘date-wise instances of misconduct’, Krishna Rao alleged that Rizvi had failed to comply with his directives.

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The Minister said the Excise Department had issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) for affixing holograms and barcodes on liquor bottles to track sales. Despite 23 companies expressing interest, Rizvi, who chaired the Expert Committee, failed to take any action.

“Apart from the entire process of calling tenders getting totally laid off, the existing supplier is permitted to supply the holograms, though his term expired in 2019, raising different doubts,” the Minister stated in the letter, adding that several other issues established ‘grave misconduct and violation of provisions of criminal law, including disobedience of the lawful authority of the government’.

However, questions are being raised as to why the Minister did not flag these alleged irregularities earlier. Observers point out that his letter came just a day after the State government formally notified Rizvi’s VRS application, triggering speculation about the timing and motive.

Interestingly, Krishna Rao was scheduled to address a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, the Congress headquarters, at 2 pm on Thursday but cancelled it at the last minute. Though no official reason was given, the Minister reportedly met Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka around the same time.

Later in the evening, Rizvi met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and also attended the Cabinet meeting at the Secretariat.